Author: Ashish Mitra

For enthusiasts of VR and followers of horror games, indie studio Bloompix Studios has launched a new update for its terror shocker The Devil Awaits VR.
The Devil Awaits VR is a thriller in which you play as Rick H. Johanson, a thief who tries to escape from the police after committing a robbery in a bank. The main action takes place in an abandoned cabin where he will soon find himself fighting against evil creatures and solving many puzzles to get back home.
“Since the birth of VR, we’ve been wanting to feel real fear and despair in a virtual reality experience, and now we have made it happen,” says Sergio Gardella, CEO at Bloompix Studios. “Samsung Gear VR is the optimal home for The Devil Awaits VR, and I am certain that after playing it, a sense of disheartenment won’t vanish f

Kids media specialists Bejuba! Entertainment and Koko Rose Media have entered into a partnership with Canadian studio YETI FARM and multi-Emmy award-winning writer Scott Cameron for its pre-school series Flora Of The Forest.
The new CG animated series will be presented by Bejuba! at Kidscreen Summit 2018, with a full bible, trailer and script by multi-Emmy-winning duo Karen Fowler and Scott Cameron.
Yeti Farm is a Canadian 2D and 3D CG animation studio founded by Ashley Ramsay, Todd Ramsay and Jason Surridge with the advisory participation of industry veteran Blair Peters.
Earlier shows they’ve produced include top shows Nickelodeon’s Little Charmers, Camp Lakebottom, Beat Bugs, and Max & Ruby among others.
Tatiana Kober, President of Bejuba! commented, “Yeti Farm's creative

London-based distributor Meta Media Entertainment has secured a number of broadcasting and platform sales for Studio Film Bilder’s new 2D-animated comedy Animanimals.
Created by animator/director Julia Ocker, each episode of the life lesson-themed series features a different animal that must find a solution to an absurd situation.
The 26 x four-minute, non-dialogue show from Stuttgart-based producer has been picked up by the toon’s broadcast co-producers KiKA and SWR in Germany as well as SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway), TATA Sky (India) and Jim Jam (pan Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia).
A MENA deal has also been signed by Discovery Kids, while Télé-Québec and Knowledge Network will air the series in Canada, and TVNZ for New Zealand.
As for platform sales, Chinese

Toei Animation has partnered with Japanese video game developer and publisher Bandai Namco on a number of new games inspired by its animated series One Piece.
The adventure show follows a pirate named Luffy as he searches for legendary treasure with his friends.
On its part, Bandai Namco has decided to launch two new games inspired by the series this year.
The first one titled Grand Cruise is a virtual reality experience that enables players to discover what it’s like to be the pirate crew’s newest recruit. The game will be released exclusively on PlayStation 4.
The second title World Seeker is an action/adventure game that puts players in Luffy’s shoes. Featuring an elaborate storyline and a focus on exploration, the game will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC Digital

Xilam Animation has appointed Céline Carenco as its SVP Media Distribution - Asia Pacific. In this role, the lady will sell Xilam’s growing library of outstanding kids’ and family content to this key market.
Bringing more than two decades of experience to the role, Carenco is a veteran of the global content distribution business. She was most recently International Sales & Acquisitions Director at Paris-based Awol Animation. Prior to Awol Animation, she worked at Gaumont Animation (formerly Alphanim) for 15 years where she was responsible for developing the company’s international distribution activity in Asia, EMEA and Canada.
An excited Carenco said, “Xilam is in a unique position in the kids’ space. I am excited about what the company has to offer and am thrilled to be joining

When it was first released last summer, the CG animated ode to emoticons, The Emoji Movie, did not exactly set the box office on fire.
But recently it managed to cement its place in history as it was shown in a theatre in Saudi Arabia making it one of the first movies to have been screened in the region after the lifting of the ban on cinemas.
According to news agency Reuters, The Emoji Movie was screened in a makeshift theatre in Jeddah in a week-long screening campaign organised by the Cinema 70 brand owned by Mamdouh Salim.
The Emoji Movie did not screen in its original form, though. The version shown in Saudi has been appropriately censored in certain places in order to avoid conflicting with beliefs held by Saudi conservatives. The cinema ban has been in place since the early 1...

Beginning yesterday, Disney Channel has launched a new interactive programming event for its popular series Andi Mack. The DisneyNOW app will offer games, polls and trivia simultaneously as the episode airs at 8 p.m. EST/PST.
The Andi Mack Live Play section of the DisneyNOW app will feature leader boards and poll results from the various activities shown in real time for both US east and west coast transmissions. And a special telecast entitled Andi Mack Cast Party will follow the interactive programming on Disney Channel.
This will be Disney’s eighth Live Play programming event in the past 18 months on Disney Channel with the most recent one taking place in October during Descendants 2.
That event had more than six million votes cast during the movie triple the amount of any other Di

In an effort to infuse digital safety awareness among children and parents in China, Danish brickmaker The LEGO Group has joined forces with Chinese internet giant Tencent on a number of new interactive kids experiences.
To ensure children’s safety online, LEGO’s Tencent partnership will comply with The LEGO Group’s Digital Child Safety Policy, which launched in 2016 as part of the company’s global partnership with UNICEF.
Besides the developing endeavour new LEGO-branded licensed games, the companies will launch a LEGO zone in Tencent’s online video streaming platform and localise hit building and coding set LEGO Boost for the region.
LEGO may also enlist Tencent’s expertise to co-develop its popular new social network for under-13s, LEGO Life, in China.
The app-focused platform l

Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Studio 14 was used to complete the picture post, including the edit and grade of a new commercial for Corona Extra developed by creative agency Leo Burnett, in Mexico and lensed by director of photography Filippo Chiesa.
Filmmaker and director Leonardo Dalessandri, who had earlier worked on commercials for the likes of Coca-Cola, Google and Apple was tasked with producing a commercial that incorporated his unique filmmaking technique and the creative agencies’ branding to achieve a tribute to Mexico. He has.
Titled Este Espíritu the commercial marked the first time Leonardo took the plunge and moved his entire post-production workflow into DaVinci Resolve 14.
“Although I knew my previous approach to post was slow and inefficient I’d been resista

Visual effects powerhouse Rodeo FX was asked to create 96 shots of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle including some of the most iconic creatures in the movie.
The sequel to the 1995 family classic takes the story of a board game that’s come to life and brings it to the digital age by transforming a group of teens into avatars and trapping them inside a video game jungle where the only way out is to beat the game. To help create an alternate game world, Rodeo FX’s creature expertise was brought in.
“Director Jake Kasdan wanted the creatures to feel cursed so our team held back from making them too realistic” said VFX Supervisor Alexandre Lafortune, of Rodeo FX. “The Hippo is a great example of a creature that would have appeared scary if we had made it look real, so we made it bigger and f